The Blue Ridge Mountains are a
physiographic province of the larger
Appalachian Highlands range. The mountain range is located in the
Eastern United States
The Eastern United States, often abbreviated as simply the East, is a macroregion of the United States located to the east of the Mississippi River. It includes 17–26 states and Washington, D.C., the national capital.
As of 2011, the Eastern ...
and extends 550 miles southwest from southern
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...
through
Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...
,
West Virginia
West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...
,
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...
,
North Carolina
North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...
,
South Carolina
South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...
,
Tennessee
Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...
, and
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States
Georgia may also refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Georgia (name), a list of pe ...
.
The province consists of northern and southern physiographic regions, which divide near the
Roanoke River
The Roanoke River ( ) runs long through southern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina in the United States. A major river of the southeastern United States, it drains a largely rural area of the coastal plain from the eastern edge of the ...
gap.
To the west of the Blue Ridge, between it and the bulk of the Appalachians, lies the
Great Appalachian Valley, bordered on the west by the
Ridge and Valley province of the Appalachian range.
The Blue Ridge Mountains are known for having a bluish color when seen from a distance. Trees put the "blue" in Blue Ridge, from the
isoprene
Isoprene, or 2-methyl-1,3-butadiene, is a common volatile organic compound with the formula CH2=C(CH3)−CH=CH2. In its pure form it is a colorless volatile liquid. It is produced by many plants and animals (including humans) and its polymers ar ...
released into the atmosphere. This contributes to the characteristic haze on the mountains and their perceived color.
Within the Blue Ridge province are two major national parks:
Shenandoah National Park
Shenandoah National Park (often ) is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States that encompasses part of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia. The park is long and narrow, with the Shenandoah River and its ...
in the northern section and
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Great Smoky Mountains National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States in the southeastern United States, southeast, with parts in North Carolina and Tennessee. The park straddles the ridgeline o ...
in the southern section. The
Blue Ridge Parkway
The Blue Ridge Parkway is a National Parkway and National Scenic Byway, All-American Road in the United States, noted for its scenic beauty. The parkway, which is the longest linear park in the U.S., runs for through 29 counties in Virginia and ...
, a long scenic highway, connects the two parks and runs along the ridge crest-lines, as does the
Appalachian Trail
The Appalachian Trail, also called the A.T., is a hiking trail in the Eastern United States, extending almost between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine, and passing through 14 states.Gailey, Chris (2006)"Appalachian Tra ...
. Eight national forests include
George Washington and Jefferson,
Cherokee
The Cherokee (; , or ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, they were concentrated in their homelands, in towns along river valleys of what is now southwestern ...
,
Pisgah,
Nantahala and
Chattahoochee.
Geography
Although the term "Blue Ridge" is sometimes applied exclusively to the eastern edge or front range of the Appalachian Mountains, the geological definition of the Blue Ridge province extends westward to the
Ridge and Valley area, encompassing the
Great Smoky Mountains, the
Great Balsams, the
Roans, the
Blacks, and other mountain ranges. In North Carolina, two lower elevation ranges to the east, referred to as
foothills
Foothills or piedmont are geography, geographically defined as gradual increases in elevation at the base of a mountain range, higher hill range or an highland, upland area. They are a transition zone between plains and low terrain, relief hill ...
, are also often included as "spurs" of the Blue Ridge: the
Brushy Mountains and the
South Mountains. In Virginia, the
Southwest Mountains are an anticlinal range that similarly parallels the Blue Ridge.

The Blue Ridge extends as far south as
Mount Oglethorpe in
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States
Georgia may also refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Georgia (name), a list of pe ...
and as far north into
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...
as
South Mountain. While South Mountain dwindles to hills between
Gettysburg and
Harrisburg
Harrisburg ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat, seat of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, Dauphin County. With a population of 50, ...
, the band of ancient rocks that form the core of the Blue Ridge continues northeast through the
New Jersey
New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...
and
Hudson River
The Hudson River, historically the North River, is a river that flows from north to south largely through eastern New York (state), New York state. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains at Henderson Lake (New York), Henderson Lake in the ...
highlands, eventually reaching the
Berkshires of
Massachusetts
Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...
and the
Green Mountains
The Green Mountains are a mountain range in the U.S. state of Vermont and are a subrange of the Appalachian Mountains. The range runs primarily south to north and extends approximately from the border with Massachusetts to the border with Que ...
of
Vermont
Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provinces and territories of Ca ...
.
The Blue Ridge contains the highest mountains in eastern North America south of
Baffin Island. About 125 peaks exceed in elevation. The highest peak in the Blue Ridge (and in the entire Appalachian chain) is
Mount Mitchell in
North Carolina
North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...
at . There are 39 peaks in North Carolina and Tennessee higher than ; by comparison, in the northern portion of the Appalachian chain only
New Hampshire
New Hampshire ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...
's
Mount Washington rises above .
Southern Sixers is a term used by
peak baggers for this group of mountains.
The
Blue Ridge Parkway
The Blue Ridge Parkway is a National Parkway and National Scenic Byway, All-American Road in the United States, noted for its scenic beauty. The parkway, which is the longest linear park in the U.S., runs for through 29 counties in Virginia and ...
runs along crests of the southern Appalachians and links two national parks:
Shenandoah and
Great Smoky Mountains. In many places along the parkway, there are
metamorphic rocks (
gneiss) with folded bands of light-and dark-colored minerals, which sometimes look like the folds and swirls in a marble cake.
Geology

Most of the rocks that form the Blue Ridge Mountains are ancient
granitic
A granitoid is a broad term referring to a diverse group of coarse-grained igneous rocks that are widely distributed across the globe, covering a significant portion of the Earth's exposed surface and constituting a large part of the continental ...
charnockites, metamorphosed volcanic formations, and sedimentary limestone. Recent studies completed by Richard Tollo, a professor and geologist at
George Washington University
The George Washington University (GW or GWU) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally-chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Originally named Columbian College, it was chartered in 1821 by ...
, provide greater insight into the petrologic and geochronologic history of the Blue Ridge basement suites. Modern studies have found that the
basement geology of the Blue Ridge is made of compositionally unique gneisses and
granitoids, including orthopyroxene-bearing charnockites. Analysis of
zircon minerals in the granite completed by John Aleinikoff at the
U.S. Geological Survey has provided more detailed emplacement ages.

Many of the features found in the Blue Ridge and documented by Tollo and others have confirmed that the rocks exhibit many similar features in other North American
Grenville-age terranes. The lack of a calc-alkaline affinity and zircon ages less than 1.2 billion years old suggest that the Blue Ridge is distinct from the
Adirondacks
The Adirondack Mountains ( ) are a massif of mountains in Northeastern New York (state), New York which form a circular dome approximately wide and covering about . The region contains more than 100 peaks, including Mount Marcy, which is the hi ...
, Green Mountains, and possibly the
New York–New Jersey Highlands
The New York – New Jersey Highlands is a geological formation composed primarily of Precambrian igneous and metamorphic rock running from the Delaware River near Musconetcong Mountain, northeast through the Skylands Region of New Jersey alo ...
. The
petrologic
Petrology () is the branch of geology that studies rock (geology), rocks, their mineralogy, composition, texture, structure and the conditions under which they form. Petrology has three subdivisions: igneous petrology, igneous, metamorphic rock, ...
and
geochronologic data suggest that the Blue Ridge basement is a composite orogenic crust that was emplaced during several episodes from a crustal magma source. Field relationships further illustrate that rocks emplaced prior to 1.078–1.064 billion years ago preserve deformational features. Those emplaced post-1.064 billion years ago generally have a massive texture and missed the main episode of Mesoproterozoic compression.
At the time of their emergence, the Blue Ridge were among the highest mountains in the world and reached heights comparable to the much younger
Alps
The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia.
...
.
Weathering
Weathering is the deterioration of rocks, soils and minerals (as well as wood and artificial materials) through contact with water, atmospheric gases, sunlight, and biological organisms. It occurs '' in situ'' (on-site, with little or no move ...
,
erosion
Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as Surface runoff, water flow or wind) that removes soil, Rock (geology), rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust#Crust, Earth's crust and then sediment transport, tran ...
, and
mass wasting
Mass wasting, also known as mass movement, is a general term for the movement of rock (geology), rock or soil down slopes under the force of gravity. It differs from other processes of erosion in that the debris transported by mass wasting is no ...
over hundreds of millions of years has resulted in much shorter peaks.
History
At the foot of the Blue Ridge, various tribes including the
Siouan Manahoacs, the
Iroquois
The Iroquois ( ), also known as the Five Nations, and later as the Six Nations from 1722 onwards; alternatively referred to by the Endonym and exonym, endonym Haudenosaunee ( ; ) are an Iroquoian languages, Iroquoian-speaking Confederation#Ind ...
, and the
Shawnee hunted and fished. A German physician-explorer,
John Lederer
John Lederer was a 17th-century German physician and an explorer of the Appalachian Mountains. He and the members of his party became the first Europeans to crest the Blue Ridge Mountains (1669) and the first to see the Shenandoah Valley and the ...
, first reached the crest of the Blue Ridge in 1669 and again the following year; he also recorded the
Virginia Siouan name for the Blue Ridge (''Ahkonshuck'').
At the
Treaty of Albany negotiated by Virginia Lieutenant Governor
Alexander Spotswood with the Iroquois between 1718 and 1722, the Iroquois ceded lands they had conquered south of the
Potomac River
The Potomac River () is in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States and flows from the Potomac Highlands in West Virginia to Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. It is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography D ...
and east of the Blue Ridge to the
Virginia Colony. This treaty made the Blue Ridge the new demarcation point between the areas and tribes subject to the Six Nations, and those tributaries to the colony. When colonists began to disregard this by crossing the Blue Ridge and settling in the
Shenandoah Valley in the 1730s, the Iroquois began to object, finally selling their rights to the valley, on the west side of the Blue Ridge, at the
Treaty of Lancaster in 1744.
Flora and fauna
Flora
The Blue Ridge Mountains have stunted oak and
oak-hickory forest habitat
In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...
s, which comprise most of the Appalachian slope forests. Flora also includes grass, shrubs, hemlock and mixed-oak pine forests.
While the Blue Ridge range includes the highest summits in the eastern United States, the climate is nevertheless too warm to support an
alpine zone
Alpine tundra is a type of natural region or biome that does not contain trees because it is at high elevation, with an associated alpine climate, harsh climate. As the latitude of a location approaches the poles, the threshold elevation for alp ...
, and thus the range lacks the
tree line
The tree line is the edge of a habitat at which trees are capable of growing and beyond which they are not. It is found at high elevations and high latitudes. Beyond the tree line, trees cannot tolerate the environmental conditions (usually low ...
found at lower elevations in the northern half of the Appalachian range. Statistical modelling predicts that the alpine tree line would exist at above 7,985 feet (2434 m) in the climate zone and latitude of the southern Appalachians. The highest parts of the Blue Ridge are generally vegetated in dense
Southern Appalachian spruce-fir forests.
Fauna
The area is host to many animals, including:
*Many species of
amphibians
Amphibians are ectothermic, anamniote, anamniotic, tetrapod, four-limbed vertebrate animals that constitute the class (biology), class Amphibia. In its broadest sense, it is a paraphyletic group encompassing all Tetrapod, tetrapods, but excl ...
and
reptiles
*
Ocoee salamander
*A large diversity of
fish
A fish (: fish or fishes) is an aquatic animal, aquatic, Anamniotes, anamniotic, gill-bearing vertebrate animal with swimming fish fin, fins and craniate, a hard skull, but lacking limb (anatomy), limbs with digit (anatomy), digits. Fish can ...
species, many of which are
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...
*
American black bear
The American black bear (''Ursus americanus''), or simply black bear, is a species of medium-sized bear which is Endemism, endemic to North America. It is the continent's smallest and most widely distributed bear species. It is an omnivore, with ...
*
Songbirds and other bird species
*
Bobcat
The bobcat (''Lynx rufus''), also known as the wildcat, bay lynx, or red lynx, is one of the four extant species within the medium-sized wild cat genus '' Lynx''. Native to North America, it ranges from southern Canada through most of the c ...
*
Coyote
*
Red fox
The red fox (''Vulpes vulpes'') is the largest of the true foxes and one of the most widely distributed members of the order Carnivora, being present across the entire Northern Hemisphere including most of North America, Europe and Asia, plus ...
*
Gray fox
The gray fox (''Urocyon cinereoargenteus''), or grey fox, is an omnivorous mammal of the family Canidae, widespread throughout North America and Central America. This species and its only congener (biology), congener, the diminutive island fox ...
*
Grouse
Grouse are a group of birds from the order (biology), order Galliformes, in the family (biology), family Phasianidae. Grouse are presently assigned to the Tribe (biology), tribe Tetraonini (formerly the subfamily Tetraoninae and the family Tetr ...
*
North American river otter
The North American river otter (''Lontra canadensis''), also known as the northern river otter and river otter, is a semiaquatic mammal that endemism, lives only on the North American continent throughout most of Canada, along the coasts of the U ...
*
Whitetail deer
*
Wild boar
The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a Suidae, suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The speci ...
*
Wild turkey
The wild turkey (''Meleagris gallopavo'') is an upland game bird native to North America, one of two extant species of Turkey (bird), turkey and the heaviest member of the order Galliformes. It is the ancestor to the domestic turkey (''M. g. dom ...
Population centers
The largest city located in the Blue Ridge Mountains is
Roanoke, located in
Southwest Virginia, while the largest Metropolitan Statistical Area is the
Greenville metropolitan area in
Upstate, South Carolina.
Other notable cities in the Blue Ridge Mountains include
Charlottesville,
Frederick,
Hagerstown,
Chambersburg,
Asheville,
Johnson City, and
Lynchburg.
See also
*
Appalachian balds
*
Appalachian bogs
*
Appalachian temperate rainforest
*
Appalachian-Blue Ridge forests
*
Cove (Appalachian Mountains)
*
Blue Ridge National Heritage Area
*
List of subranges of the Appalachian Mountains
* ''
Tennessee Frontiers: Three Regions in Transition'' by John R. Finger
*
Take Me Home, Country Roads by
John Denver
Henry John Deutschendorf Jr. (December 31, 1943 – October 12, 1997), known professionally as John Denver, was an American Country music, country and Folk music, folk singer, songwriter, and actor. He was one of the most popular acoustic m ...
References
Further reading
*Olson, Ted (1998). ''Blue Ridge Folklife'', University Press of Mississippi. .
External links
*
*
{{Authority control
Subranges of the Appalachian Mountains
Mountain ranges of North Carolina
Mountain ranges of Virginia
Mountain ranges of Georgia (U.S. state)
Mountain ranges of Maryland
Mountain ranges of Pennsylvania
Mountain ranges of Tennessee
Mountain ranges of South Carolina
Mountain ranges of West Virginia
Geography of Appalachia
Regions of Tennessee
Appalachia
Appalachian culture
Roanoke River
Shenandoah River
Rappahannock River
Physiographic provinces
Physiographic regions of the United States
Volcanoes of Virginia